Colette Dowling's book is LONG OVERDUE. In The Frailty Myth she provides the reader with a eye opening, informative and simultaneously disheartening look at how young girls, and women in general, are socially and culturally conditioned to live a physically underutilized existence in relation to men.

I am a long time reader of feminist literature and I've never really came across anything that comes remotely close to the in-depth sociohistorical investigation into the well-entrenched stereotype, myth, assumption, fallacy that women are less physically capable than men - until now. In fact, the myth is a long standing belief of mine, I must sadly admit. As a child of an immigrant who comes from a religious, third world country, my mother ingrained in me that women are weaker than men, less capable of defending oneself from an physical attack, and so on. Being 5' 2'' myself, I routinely undervalue my physical strength myself. However, this book made me look at the false philosophy in a drastically new light.

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